Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #8 of 2013 is another bad one: $86 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday (down 25% from the same weekend last year and down 15% from the average for the weekend the last few years).  Identity Thief will hold on to the #1 spot for the weekend (but only […]

  Oscar weekend boxoffice is one of those chicken-and-egg situations where it’s not clear whether the major studios stay away because no one goes to the movies that weekend, or if no one goes to the movies because there’s nothing new to see.  However self-fulfilling the prophecy may be, things are quiet at the multiplex […]

Not the kind of history the major networks like to set. CW:  Last night may have been the first time a CW series beat not one, but two of the big networks, as THE VAMPIRE DIARIES climbed an impressive 0.3 to 1.3 and NBC and ABC fell.  At 9PM, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was also […]

  The odds-on favorite for this year’s Best Director Oscar can’t win. There’s little doubt at this point that if Ben Affleck had only been nominated for Best Director this year, he would have run away with the award.  That’s probably true even if the dynamics of the Best Picture race had been changed by […]

  THE AMERICANS rebounded a bit in the ratings last night, rising to a 0.8 after 2 weeks of declines, but even if it had just held steady, FX would probably have awarded it a Season 2 renewal any time now.  As it is, the announcement was made today, since at 0.8 it was a […]

Another night with little for the networks to cheer about. ABC:  The first 90 minutes of the night provided some good news, as THE MIDDLE rebounded a bit from last week’s low to 2.2 (up 0.3), THE NEIGHBORS was up 0.2 to 1.9 and MODERN FAMILY rose a tick to 3.9.  But the tick went […]

The 8th weekend of 2013 looks like another down weekend: $95 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 16% from the same weekend last year.  Two more movies will open this weekend, both with little potential. Opening in about 2,500 theaters Friday, Snitch from Summit and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should average a perfectly […]

  Almost anyone could win Best Supporting Actor this year.  All of the nominees delivered acclaimed performances in highly-praised films, and all are previous winners, so none of them would necessarily take precedence as someone who’s “owed.”  It’s possible to construct plausible cases for and against each one: Tommy Lee Jones, LINCOLN Pros:  Jones is […]